Losers' Consent

Elections and Democratic Legitimacy

Based on data from new and established contemporary democracies across the globe, this leading team of experts examines how election losers and their supporters respond to their loss and how institutions shape losing. Losers' Consent shows how being able to accept losing is one of the central requirements of democracy, and provides a major new contribution to our understanding of political legitimacy, comparative political behavior, and democratic stability.

Losers' Consent

Elections and Democratic Legitimacy

Description

Based on data from new and established contemporary democracies across the globe, this leading team of experts examines how election losers and their supporters respond to their loss and how institutions shape losing. Losers' Consent shows how being able to accept losing is one of the central requirements of democracy, and provides a major new contribution to our understanding of political legitimacy, comparative political behavior, and democratic stability.

Losers' Consent

Elections and Democratic Legitimacy

Table of Contents

Preface1. Winning isn't Everything: Losers' Consent and Democratic LegitimacyPart 1: The Winner-Loser Gap 2. Political Legitimacy and the Winner-Loser Gap3. The Winner-Loser Gap: Contours and Boundaries4. The Dynamics of Losers' Consent: Persistance and Change in the Winner-Loser GapPart 2: Understanding Differences in Losers' Consent 5. Individual Differences in Losers' Consent6. Winning and Losing in Old and New Democracies7. How Political Institutions Shape Losers' Consent8. Comparing Losers' Assessments of Electoral Democracy9. Losing and Support for Institutional Change10. Conclusion: Graceful Losers and the Democratic BargainAppendixReferences